Research

As with other studies in which chimpanzees are used for infectious disease research, there is a disparity between the human and chimpanzee course of RSV infection—putting the value of this research into question.

About RSV

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is “a respiratory virus that can cause lung infections.” (1) In humans, RSV typically does not cause serious illness, and its symptoms may go unnoticed. It is estimated that by age two, most children have been infected at some time with RSV. (2)

Typical symptoms mimic the common cold and may progress to coughing and/or wheezing. Serious illness can result, usually in immunocompromised populations such as the elderly, infants who were born prematurely, and young children suffering from respiratory or cardiac disorders. (3)

RSV is most prevalent during the fall and winter months. Most RSV infections do not require treatment, but for those that do, treatments typically consist of relieving the symptoms of upper and lower respiratory congestion and cough. For serious infections requiring hospitalization, antiviral treatments such as Ribavirin (4) and intravenous immune globulin may be administered. (5)

A range of human clinical studies are currently funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study treatment of RSV. In 2004, NIH funded 26 human clinical studies of RSV. (6) (This number does not include any prior studies which may still have been in progress during this time.) From 2005 to 2008, NIH sponsored seven clinical trials, in which the effectiveness and safety of medications or medical devices are monitored for their effects on large groups of people. During this same timeframe, 42 clinical trials were sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, universities, and other non-government organizations. (7)

Under NIH, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) “supports research to develop a [RSV] vaccine,” and once one is developed, “Researchers plan to evaluate several versions of this vaccine for immunogenicity (the ability to provoke an immune response) and advance the most promising candidates into studies of safety and effectiveness in non-human primates.” (8) Yet, there exists abundant evidence demonstrating that the safety and efficacy testing of vaccines in chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates is not predictive of their safety and efficacy in humans. For example, each of the 85-plus HIV/AIDS vaccines tested to date in chimpanzees and monkeys has failed to protect humans, despite the majority of them offering protection in the nonhuman primate tests. Given the poor track record of chimpanzee use in other areas of vaccine research such as hepatitis C and malaria, as well as RSV, there is sound logic to conclude that further chimpanzee use will not lead to a successful vaccine for RSV.

The use of chimpanzee infants in RSV research

As with other studies in which chimpanzees are used for infectious disease research, there are significant differences between the human and chimpanzee course of infection from RSV. RSV infection in chimpanzees causes them to experience moderate nasal discharge and mild to moderate nasal congestion, similar to the common cold. Beyond these symptoms, there does not seem to be any further progression of the disease in chimpanzees. (9)

Chimpanzees appear to develop a natural immunity to the virus by the age of two. (10) Therefore, many chimpanzees used in RSV research must be less than two years old because after that time they develop protective antibodies to RSV infection. (11) A young chimpanzee is typically not weaned before the age of five and in nature is almost constantly by his or her mother’s side during those first years of life.

This research “requirement” for young chimpanzees results in them being separated from their mothers when they are very young, which in turn greatly increases the emotional toll on chimpanzees used for RSV research. Research labs also use this “need” as a reason to continue breeding chimpanzees—whose lifetime care and use becomes an economic burden, and as a way to try to “promote” their use in research, which overall entails a lifetime of psychological and physical suffering for these chimpanzees. Ending the use of babies and children in this area of research must be a priority since it has not only proven to be of no benefit to humans to date, but it also condemns more chimpanzees to a lifetime of living in and being used in a lab.

In addition to the severe distress caused by separation from their mothers (and stress to the mothers themselves), experimental procedures required for RSV entail the collection of nasopharyngeal swabs and tracheal lavage [irrigation] samples at intervals over a period of 10 days. (12) Tracheal lavage must be carried out under general anesthesia, as is the initial procedure of infecting the young chimpanzees with intranasal and intratracheal inoculation of the virus.

In the grant above, New Iberia receives federal funding for the housing and maintenance of their chimpanzee population. Among other things, the funding helps support, “the development of and access to chimpanzee animal models critical to understanding human health needs”; RSV is included as one of the desired animal models. (13)